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In the past few weeks, some Anne Arundel County high school students -- mostly girls -- have endured public humiliation as nude or partially nude self-taken photographs have ended up on social media sites.

"It was startling what I saw -- pictures of my daughter naked from the top up," said the mother of one 16-year-old victim who didn't want to identify herself to protect her daughter.

Her daughter was included in a post on five Instagram sites that were categorized by school name, including Old Mill High School and Glen Burnie. But her daughter was not alone.

"It wasn't just her. It was a lot of girls, boys and young girls – I mean, middle school girls -- on this page," the mother said.

She said in total, 46 naked photos of girls were featured on the site.

In the case of her daughter, the photo was a selfie that was transmitted privately to a boyfriend at the time, 11 News I-Team reporter Deborah Weiner said. Either he or someone else then direct-messaged the picture to a public Instagram account.

Followers of the site would then post the names of the girls they recognized.

The mother was angry because she had warned her daughter never to do this.

"My kids are always telling me, 'Mom, you're always in my business.' Yes I am, but apparently I was not in it enough," she told Weiner.

The mother contacted the school, the police and Instagram, which pulled the page in a matter of hours, but it didn't take long for another to crop up.

"Absolutely. It's not illegal," said Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess. "The law says that nude pictures are legal, but pictures depicting sexual contact or activity are illegal."

She said that's true even if the photos are of a minor.

All the pictures the I-Team saw were of nude or partially nude selfies, which -- while disturbing -- are not classified as child pornography, Weiner reported.

"It can haunt them in school the next day. It can haunt them when they apply for a job or college. It's embarrassing and humiliating, but it's not criminal," Leitess said.

School officials said because it's not happening on school grounds, there is little they can do, except in instances when the school name is used without permission.

"They're using our franchise name, our logo. They're using images that we have on our website. We can certainly go after that, and I think we have somewhat of a chance of getting things pulled for that simple fact," Anne Arundel County school security spokesman Bob Yatsuk said.

Since the incident the mother the I-Team spoke with, she said she has removed photo sharing from her daughter's phone.

"If these parents could have seen the pictures of these children that I saw, everybody would be sitting their kids down today, talking to them about it again," the mother said. "Don't think this is above your family. Do not."